AIT Stirred Up a Hornet's Nest for Taiwan
By Tsai Cheng-i
China Times, December 11, 2021
Several members of the United States Congress jointly proposed the “U.S.-Taiwan Public Health Protection Act” in the Senate and House of Representatives on November 4. If it is approved, an “Infectious Disease Monitoring Center" will operate under the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and cooperate with Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Ministry of Health and Welfare, to monitor infectious diseases in the Indo-Pacific region. Congress members who proposed this bill believe that it will allow the United States and Taiwan to work together by safely monitoring health threats and preventing future pandemics.
Taiwan would be very excited about this news if this bill had been proposed after the recovery of Taiwan in 1945. At that time, infectious diseases were severely raging in Taiwan. Malaria, polio, Japanese encephalitis, and cholera were all much more harmful than the current coronavirus (COVID-19). Taiwan had a handful of problems and the government had no time to deal with these infectious diseases. If the United States had extended a helping hand as it is doing today, not only would the Taiwanese people gladly welcome the help, but the entire Indo-Pacific and even the whole world would have been very grateful to the United States for its kindness.
American aid in infectious disease first began through the United States military stationed in Taiwan. During that time, the Second Medical Research Institute of the U.S. Navy leased the land on the west side of the National Taiwan University Hospital for free with a symbolic rent of $1 New Taiwan Dollar. The U.S. military assisted Taiwan in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases by cultivating talent from both Taiwan and the United States. After the severance of diplomatic relations between the Republic of China and the United States, the U.S. military withdrew from Taiwan, and the Second Medical Research Institute under the U.S. Navy also withdrew to the Philippines. The research equipment was not left in Taiwan as stated in the original lease agreement. In the end, the National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital recovered nothing but an empty shell.
Although this period of time in history sounds a bit unfair in terms of rent, at least the United States cultivated some of the early-stage talents on infectious disease and vaccines for the NTU Hospital. The Taiwan CDC’s achievement today is definitely due to their contribution to some degree. However, Taiwan’s current situation is no longer the same as before. Taiwan does not have any infectious disease that is not under control, and since there is no interface between humans and wild animals, it is less likely for infectious diseases to develop. Furthermore, there seems to be no reason that the infectious disease monitoring center should be established in Taiwan for the purpose of protecting the Asia-Pacific or even the United States. For the same purpose, India might be a better option than Taiwan for establishing an infectious disease monitoring center.
One may wonder why the United States suddenly proposes this plan while the Taiwan Strait is covered by a war cloud. Moreover, the future infectious disease monitoring center is actually located inside the AIT, which means it can evade monitoring by Taiwan's disease surveillance system. This is a big deal because during the period of SARS, the virus was leaked by Lieutenant Colonel Zhan precisely because officials were not able to control the Institute of Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of National Defense. The whole incident caused quite a scare and could have caused the epidemic to worsen. In 1979, the Russian military was secretly developing biological weapons in Sverdlovsk, which resulted in the Chernobyl accident. In the same way, there was no supervisory unit, which eventually led to catastrophe.
When this infectious disease monitoring center was proposed by members of Congress to be established under AIT, it is the equivalent of setting it up under the United States, which means Taiwan has no power to stop it or to supervise it. Now that the Taiwan Strait is covered with a war cloud and the epidemic situation in Taiwan is quite stable, it is rather reasonable to suspect that this monitoring center is an act of defiance during these politically charged times.
According to the 1925 Geneva Agreement, biochemical weapons are strictly prohibited. Even great powers such as the United States and the Soviet Union dare not develop biochemical weapons blatantly. Today, it is very possible that the U.S. is using the “infectious disease monitoring center” in the AIT as a cover. If there is no regulatory mechanism on Taiwan’s part, who can refute the international accusations against Taiwan in the future? If these suspicions prove to be true, then it will undoubtedly be a huge hornet's nest for Taiwan.
To Taiwan’s government officials who are shortsighted, they might only see that the Americans can help and uplift Taiwan’s status by publishing a few articles. It is a pity that these officials are not thinking of a way to stop this potential catastrophe, but instead, they believe that Americans are doing a great favor for Taiwan.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20211211003364-262104